Hawthorn Coach Sam Mitchell says he has been impressed by the consistency of Will Day this season as the youngster looks to celebrate his 50th game this weekend.

Speaking to the media on Friday, Mitchell said Day has blossomed into one of the key leaders among his young side. 

“50 games is an interesting one when you’ve got a lot of players who have played more. I think we’ve only got seven players who have played 100, so 50 is actually quite a milestone in our ranks," Mitchell said. 

“We’ve never done a highlights tape for 50 games, but I think Will's would be quite good, however he'll have to wait until 100 games for any accolades from us.

“The thing with Will is that he plays beyond his 50 games. The level of consistency he has produced has been impressive, particularly in the last 10 games, he has been able to make a contribution in every game.

“More and more of our players need to be able to get to that level. I’m glad that Will is one of our really young strong leaders who is helping us get to where we want to go quicker than we have been."

Mitchell said this week had been a challenging one following their one-point loss against to Richmond last Saturday.

“We looked at what we could’ve done differently how we could’ve performed better in key moments," Mitchell said.

“But by the same token, there were other aspects of the game - we got ourselves to 36 points up - so we have to take the positives too.

“We’ve lost three games, one by three points, two points and one point. But even if we’d won all four of those games, that still doesn’t put us up where we want to go.

“There is other aspects of our game where we need to work on and we’ll continue to do that.

“But certainly that (Richmond game) is in the memory bank, and now we’re just looking forward to the St Kilda game."

Hear from Mitchell below ahead of our Round 20 clash with St Kilda.